Name: Nick Osetek & Tessa Chambers Date: 5/17/2018
Room Temperature: 70*F Humidity etc: Dry
Experiment Title: 5-Gallon Bath Test
Experiment Goal: We made a new, bigger bath to etch larger plates, rather than our 3×3 inch plates. We’re hoping to get a more accurate representation of what will happen when etching larger plates. For this experiment we kept etching our 3×3 inch plates to test the strength of the new bath and so we could stay consistent with our other experiments. We will do another gradient step test with 6 plates.
Plate material: Aluminum (5052)
Plate Preparation: Steel wooled, degreased with Bon Ami and soy sauce, then backed with contact paper.
Evaluation of Plate Preparation: Normal
Etching Bath Notes: The bath has its brand new, bright blue color, but not as clear blue as we expected. We concluded that it may be from the ingredients for the bath not dissolving completely.
Time in bath: 15 sec, 1 min, 3 min, 5 min, 8 min, 12 min
After Bath Evaluation: The bath was a tad darker due to the copper output during etching.
Removal of Grounds: N/A
Inking Methods: Bone black, 10% Burnt Plate Oil 00
Paper Type: Hahnemule Copperplate
Soaking Time: 30 min – 1 hour
Press, blanket set up, pressure: Praga press, 2 blankets, 1/8, 1/8
Conclusions: The results came out much darker compared to past tests due to how fresh the bath is. The 3 & 5-minute plates seem darker than our 8 & 12-minute plates. This brings up the question (since we’ve run into this problem before) does the aluminum reach a point of exhaustion when trying to etch black in large open areas? Is it the metal or the mordant?
5-gallon bath setup.
15-plate step test of new 5-gallon bath.